Original Sin
by DarkLordMist
Summary: Naruto lives on the street until he is 12. He never enters the academy. Then he decides to become a ninja. Naruto/Kurenai.
1. Beginnings of a Tale

Original Sin

Original Sin

Chapter One: Beginnings of a Tale

Dusk barely settled as the hidden village of Konoha began its transformation. Its daylight frivolity began to darken, the streets and crowds throwing out their previous civilized disposition, and began to shoulder a baser instinct.

It was during this time that Uzumaki Naruto began to watch his every shadow. Night after night there were constant attacks, tonight would be no different. A sound here, a footstep there, and quickly, the golden-haired twelve-year-old was on the run.

"He ran into that alley over there!" Two ninja, which by Naruto's judgment of the way they ran, were probably chuunin at best. They swiftly jumped from the ground to the roof, but wobbled to stabilize themselves. Naruto smiled grimly as he sidestepped a kunai and took refuge behind a trash chute. This would not be an easy getaway.

The pursuit lasted over an hour, with Naruto finally outsmarting his would-be captors in a daring flip off the central clock tower, catching on to a balcony on the far east of the village. Hoisting himself up, he grunted in pain as he realized he had been struck with several shruiken to his left leg.

_"Damn, these people never give up." _

His mind raced back to what had happened two weeks ago. Naruto had attempted to join the Ninja Academy at age 12. The teachers and the students had laughed deliriously at him.

"First of all, we don't accept applicants over age 10." A white-haired ninja crowed. "Second, we don't accept demons. Get the hell out of here before I call the authorities."

As a street rat, Naruto had been living in near starvation his entire life. No form of help had ever come, except once. Once was when the Third Hokage had seen him screaming in pain on the street, after a few jounin had cornered him and stabbed him repeatedly before noticing the Hokage procession.

The Hokage had helped Naruto to a hospital, giving him food and ordering the boy to be placed in his own apartment. But that did not work out well at all. For the first few days of living at the apartment, there were nightly robberies and assaults, during which Naruto had to run for his life. After the third day Naruto had no choice, it was either to sleep on the street or die a slow and painful death. Naruto could only assume that the Hokage had more pressing issues on his mind.

Stumbling into a dark alley, Naruto felt his way around until he touched upon a small camp that he had made. Several dusty books and a battered old rag were his main possessions as the blonde boy quickly fell asleep, despite the aching pains from his leg.

The next morning, Naruto's leg had healed. A sudden thought came to his mind, as his face showed a grim determination. Maybe the academy would never accept him, but he would train himself. He decided that he would sneak up to watch the training sessions that the Konoha ninja frequently held. The nearest one was Area 17.

Gathering himself together, Naruto quickly pulled off a half-eaten power bar and finished it. The taste was horrible, but it would have to do. This would be his only food for today, but it would be worth it, if he were able to escape detection.

During the daytime, only glares were passed his way as he made through the streets. Sometimes he was bullied and roughened, but unlike nighttime, no one wanted to see blood and death during the day.

"- and to break the ice, I'd like you three to say how old you are, what you like and dislike, and what are your goals for the future." A woman's voice rang out from in front of the bushes that Naruto was hiding behind. A brief silence followed, and then a boy's voice.

"Hi! I'm Inuzuka Kiba. I'm thirteen, I like my dog Akamaru, I hate cats, and I want to become the best ninja ever!" A small giggle was heard, while Naruto barely suppressed his snort. He hoped the women, who seemed to be a Jounin, could not sense him.

"H-hi… my name is Hyuuga Hinata… I'm t-twelve… I like reading stories and eating sushi… and I dislike… v-violence. I hope to make my father… p-proud of me." A girl stuttered. Naruto rolled his eyes. _"How could you be a ninja if you dislike violence?"_

Then, a relatively confident and neutral voice. "My name is Aburame Shino. I'm thirteen, I like creatures, I dislike pesticides, and my desire is to start my own business one day."

The woman finished. "It's great meeting all of you. My name is Yuuhi Kurenai, I am 21 years old, I enjoy meditating and dancing, I dislike vulgarity and perversion, and my dream is to live to meet my grandchildren, of course dependent on whether I ever start a family. Now that the familiarities are finished, I would like to lay down a few ground rules…" Naruto shifted slightly. He hoped his breathing wouldn't be heard.

"First of all, you will address me as Kurenai-sensei. Second, you will always treat each other and myself professionally and with maturity. Failing to do so will earn you a private warning the first time, and if the behavior continues, I will be requesting your removal from Team Eight. No ifs, ands, or buts. Finally, if we are to encounter battle, you will follow my direction one hundred percent of the time. Any questions?"

Silence.

"Good. Our session is adjourned for today. We will meet tomorrow at 6:00 for your morning training. Do not be late." Footsteps – the group had separated.

Naruto let out a soft sigh. He had gained nothing from that exchange, except perhaps a few names. He was just about to leave when a kunai slammed his sleeve into the ground.

"Who are you and what do you want?" _"Crap!!"_

Trapped, Naruto lifted up his face to look his captor in the eye. His voice was caught in his throat. The woman was gorgeous. Her clothes, a robe-like skirt, did nothing to hide her full figure. Her auburn hair brushed against her cheeks as she glared at him. Naruto quickly shoved all of those thoughts aside. "I'm sorry – I was hoping to watch some training so I could learn a bit." Thinking hastily, he decided to be honest. While it sounded lame, Naruto knew that the woman could maim or kill him easily if she thought him lying.

Kurenai's eyes narrowed. "Are you not in the academy? Or with a sensei?" Her eyes went to his forehead. "Oh – I'm sorry. You must be a civilian. I'm sorry, Konoha ninja usually do not allow civilians to watch our training. However, if you're looking to watch a staged fight, I would head to area 22. I believe Maito Gai and Hatake Kakashi have another public duel today."

Naruto nodded. He didn't want to trouble this woman any further. "Thank you ma'm." She nodded and began to walk away. Naruto realized she had forgotten her kunai. Picking it up, he wondered how he should call her out – it didn't seem appropriate to call out her name, especially since he wasn't supposed to know it.

"Excuse me!" Kurenai sharply turned, again fixating him with a burning gaze. Naruto shuddered. "Y-your kunai."

She snapped it out of his outstretched hands in one swift move. "Thank you." No more words were exchanged. Naruto watched her walk away as he sighed to himself. He looked at his dirty hands. He could only assume that his face was just as dirty. Must have been weird for the woman to see a random beggar-boy hiding behind a bush and claiming to have been just "watching." Naruto shook his head, laughing quietly inside. _"Must have been odd for her as well. Oh well – what can you do."_

A/N: Please review.


	2. I am Ninja!

Original Sin

Chapter Two: I am Ninja!

"KAKASHI!! I CHALLENGE YOU TO A DUEL!!" A green-clad latex-wearing man roared in area 22. Naruto sat in the stands, along with around 40 or so other amused/irritated shinobi. The scene was certainly humorous – a crazy screaming zealot versus an apathetical white-haired masked one, reading a small orange book.

"Hehehehe!" Kakashi giggled as he flipped the page. _"Wow, this guy is either really good or really uninterested." _Thought Naruto. He hoped to see at least a few ninja techniques.

"KAKASHI!! I WILL BEAT YOU ONCE AND FOR ALL WITH MY FIRES OF YOUTH!! Or else I will do twenty thousand flips around Konoha!!"

Finally, the man known as Kakashi put his book down. "Ok. Let's begin." Immediately, his hands lit up as seals flashed through into a huge ball of fire.

"YAAAAA!! YOU CHEATED KAKASHI!! I WASN'T READY!!" The green man yelled as his clothes caught on fire. He rolled around the ground about 50 times and then jumped back up. "THAT DIDN'T COUNT!!"

"Sure it did." And then he picked up his book and started reading again. Naruto grinned, trying not to laugh. This was hilarious, but he didn't want to attract attention.

"Gai-sensei!!" Another green-clothed boy rushed into the scene. "LEE!!" "GAI-SENSEI!!" "LEE!!" "GAI-SENSEI!!"

Randomly, the two began to hug each other as the red sun blossomed above them. There were no words to describe the moment. Kakashi took this moment to shunshin out, leaving the crowd to watch another brilliant display of masculine affection.

_"The only thing I saw... were his hands… they moved so fast."_ Exiting the arena, Naruto's thoughts were on Kakashi's seals. How had the Jounin done his fireball attack?

Finding a small clearing in the middle of the forest, Naruto stared intently at the tree. Then, his hands formed the seals he had seen, in imitation. In surprise, he realize that he actually remembered exactly every single seal.

But nothing came out. Nothing flashed, no flames, not even a rise in heat. The boy stood there for two hours, running the same seals over and over, faster and faster.

Then, he sat down and began to cry.

A few hours later, Naruto woke up. Hungry as hell, he stumbled around the clearing to find something. Maybe he could find a few mushrooms.

"Kure-chan, you're so silly! There hasn't been a war in ten years! If there were any better time to start a family, it'd be now." A woman's voice rang out nearby. It sounded like a kunoichi. Plus, the response's voice was definitely familiar.

"Stop it Anko-chan… I'm just so sick of his smoking! If he stopped smoking I would consider dating him, but until then, I can't stand being near him." It was Kurenai! Naruto brightened, but then quickly stifled a laugh at himself. _"Kurenai? She doesn't even know you."_ He stayed where he was, hoping that the two kunoichi would not hear him. But if this morning was any indication…

"Well, whatever. If you don't hurry up, all the good guys will be gone." The woman named Anko singsonged. "Of course… you could always share my current-"

"… did you see the fight between Kakashi and Gai?" Kurenai interrupted grouchily. "I can't believe it ended so fast."

"Hehehe I have to admit it was amusing. And then to see Gai and his little green halfling hugging like lovers – I was rolling on the floor in laughter!" Anko let out a guffaw. Her laugh was actually pretty funny, thought Naruto.

The voices grew fainter. Naruto let out a soft sigh of relief. He did not want to look the stern woman in her crimson eyes again, no matter how attractive she may be. A brief thought flashed through his mind - _"Why don't I ask her…" _then he stopped. Just finishing that thought would have been inane. Who would train him of all people?

Later that day, after hours of flashing through thousands of hand seals, even making up a few of his own, Naruto sighed and began to give up. Clearly, he was not meant to be a ninja. After all, it seemed like the Kakashi man had some sort of inner energy… _wait… that's it_.

_"One more try…"_ he thought desperately, palms sweating and his limbs aching. His stomach grumbled loudly, as it was beginning to approach evening. _"This time, I'll try focusing… my 'energy.'"_ Though he did not know what his energy was, Naruto decided that if it was there, he could somehow draw it out.

Naruto didn't know what happened with each combination of hand seals, but he decided to try the one that seemed to require the most focus. He did each seal slowly, forcing his entire being into every single seal.

He screamed in agony. A deep cut ran across his hand as blood spewed out. Naruto grabbed his rags and bound his hand, moaning in pain. For a few minutes, he rolled around the ground… as it turned to mud.

The pain had subsided a bit, and the blood had miraculously stopped coming out. He did not think twice about it, for some reason, he had always had above-average healing powers. Perhaps that had something to do with being a "demon."

A water drop fell on his nose. He blinked. Then he realized that it was raining, and that all of his clothes were slathered in mud. _"I… caused the sky… to rain?" _For a few seconds he just stared at his hands in shock. The sky had darkened significantly, and Naruto felt both cold and soaked.

Knees dropping to the ground, Naruto's mouth began to quiver. Then he smiled, despite himself, despite his circumstances, despite his injuries, despite his wretched life. His smile opened up into a silent laugh, then a sounding one, as he tilted his head up to the sky and simply laughed.

_"Only a dreamer could have believed for a minute that he, of all the forces in the world, had caused the sky to rain." _ Naruto thought as he grinned. _"I guess that's who I am… a dreamer."_

He slumped down a bit, exhausted. He rested his head against a nearby stone, as the water dripping on him became his blanket. Entering the world of dreams, his last thought was, _"I hope… I don't wake up…"_

Nearby, a wizened old man with white billowing robes and a regal cap stopped in the steps of his daily walk, noticing the small mass on the ground.

A/N: Please review.


	3. A New Home

Original Sin

Chapter 3: A New Home

"Hokage-sama, it is hard to believe that this boy has been homeless for nearly his whole life. No one ever stepped in to take care of him?" A light male voice rang out.

"I don't know, Iruka. This has been my gravest mistake. I had believed that his mother had taken him with her when she was noticed to have disappeared from Konoha. Then eight years later, I recall seeing the boy being assaulted. You remember what happened that day, yes?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama. The Fire Daimyo was assassinated a short while after the tour of the village."

A deep sigh was heard. "No amount of words or apologies can make up for the crimes that the people of this village have done to him. I would have them all tried, but I'm afraid that they are in the majority. I can only promise Naruto that I will try my best to protect him."

Naruto opened his eyes as he saw a grave-looking old man and a kind-faced ninja peering over at him. "You've awakened, Naruto."

Naruto stared at the old Hokage. He didn't say anything.

"I don't know where to begin, Naruto, but before I try, I just wanted to offer my heartfelt apology, useless as it is, for the suffering that you have underwent, because of misfortune, but even more so, the misguidance and mistakes that Konoha and I, myself, have made."

Naruto was puzzled. He didn't expect an apology. And from the Hokage? He was about to tell the elder that no apologies were necessary, but out of respect, he said nothing.

"Under different circumstances, I would have refrained from telling you the whole truth. But there is no other way than for me to give you the entire story, about who you are."

Two hours later, Naruto walked out of the Hokage tower, flanked by two ANBU guards. The amount of information that he had received, had been enormous. The most shocking was that within him was a demon, a prisoner. His unusual growth (for someone so malnourished), his regenerative abilities, and his speed, were probably because of his… monster within. Naruto shuddered. On one hand, he supposed he should be thankful that he possessed these unnatural attributes, but on the other hand… there was simply no comparison.

The second bit was that his mother was nowhere to be found. That much was obvious to Naruto, although he honestly had never even wondered about her at all. It seemed as if he simply sprouted out of the ground one day, or maybe through a demon portal, as he had sometimes assumed.

And the last bit was that the Fourth Hokage had been his father. Naruto didn't even know what to make of this. This had been simply too much for him to handle, and so he had respectfully asked the Hokage to stop there and give him time to think.

The Hokage did not argue, but merely acquiesced to his request. He apologized once more, but Naruto stopped him midway. _"There's no reason the Hokage should be apologizing to me. It's true that he could have helped me out, but in the end, does it really matter? If I'm the jailor of a demon, wouldn't it be good if I was already dead?"_

He did not voice these thoughts. Leaving a relatively confused Sandaime and Iruka behind, Naruto accepted his contract with the housing and a small stipend without a word.

"Naruto-san, please stay within the Konoha park and the four streets surrounding it. If you are here, we will be able to look after you. I'm afraid that anywhere else, especially the outskirts that you had dwelled in before, were far from the Hokage's oversight."

The other ANBU nodded. "We offer our sincerest apologies as well for not being able to look over you. Is there anything from your past home that you'd like to retrieve?"

_"Home?"_ Naruto smiled grimly. He shook his head.

"We will always be patrolling, so do not worry, we will not let anyone hurt you again." As the ANBU walked away, Naruto looked around his small apartment. He sat down on a chair, a bit unsure of what to do.

For the first time in his entire life, he felt _safe_. And that, in itself, was a pretty weird feeling.

A/N: Short, I know, but long chapters make me get writer's block.


	4. Will

Original Sin

Original Sin

Chapter 4: Will

"Good evening! How are you tonight? What would you like to order?" A pretty young lady greeted Naruto as he sat down. Naruto stiffened slightly. He had never been treated so kindly before. The girl offered him a menu, but he shook his head.

"I can't read." He stated, looking into the girl's brown eyes. She looked surprised, but easily steadied herself.

"I apologize! I recommend miso ramen, if you have not come here before."

Naruto let a smile cross his face as he nodded. Inside, he felt a slight pang of sadness. While he had cleaned himself, put on a new outfit of clothes, and changed his entire appearance, inside, he was still the same. Uneducated, uncivilized… but worst of all… _demonic_. Surely this girl would reject him once she knew of his "heritage."

"Oy! Ayame-chan! I want three bowls of miso and two bowls of seafood!" A loud voice yelled out a few seats to the right of Naruto. Naruto turned abruptly, recognizing the voice. It was the genin named Kiba, the one who liked dogs, with the rest of his team – Naruto recalled their names were Hinata and Shino.

Kiba must have sensed Naruto watching, because he turned and gave Naruto a condescending stare. "What are you looking at, huh?"

Naruto just stared right back. He wasn't scared of this random kid, especially since he had faced down much worse. Truth be told, Naruto wasn't exactly sure how to respond. A lack of communication had rendered him relatively tongue-tied in any sort of conversation...

"I… said… What. Are. You. Looking. At?" Kiba had now stood up and was approaching Naruto slowly.

Naruto may have been lacking in communication skills, but he could sense a fight coming from a mile away. Despite the boy's insolence, Naruto did not want to betray the Hokage by getting into a fight so quickly.

"I'm sorry. I was just curious why you had ordered five bowls when there are only three of you."

Kiba smirked. "First of all, it's none of your business. But if you're dying to know, I'm saving one for my sensei, who should be coming soon, and two are for me because I am super hungry."

Naruto did not respond. _"Not everyone can afford two bowls." _12 years of living in below-poverty had taught him that. Kiba began to glare after he realized that Naruto was going to leave him hanging. "You know what? I think we should fight after this. See whose better, how about –"

"Don't tell me you're picking fights already, Kiba." A voice interrupted.

A womanly figure smoothed into the seat next to Naruto, between him and Kiba. She turned to Kiba and the rest of Team 8, greeting them all, before turning to Naruto.

"I must apologize for my brash student's behavior. He means no –"

Naruto's azure eyes connected with Kurenai's crimson ones as it was her turn to stop midsentence. She gave him a questioning glance, as if she were trying to figure out if she had met him before.

Naruto smiled. "You told me about the public duel this morning, ma'm." He did not refer to the first part, where she had caught him spying behind the bush.

Kurenai nodded in recognition. "I do remember. Did you enjoy the fight?" The edges of her mouth lifted up a bit, most likely remembering the humorous experience the bystanders had underwent.

Naruto grinned. "It was definitely entertaining, although I wish I had seen more… umm… I don't know what you call it… that hand-seal-magic-fireball thing." He finished quickly, a bit embarrassed.

Kurenai let out a soft chuckle, amused. "Ninjutsu?"

Naruto nodded, blushing. There was something about the woman, that simply made one shy. He couldn't quite place his finger on it, but it probably was the result of being mature, sophisticated, and beautiful at the same time.

"I apologize for my manners. My name is Yuuhi Kurenai." She put forth her right hand, in a sideways position.

Naruto looked down at her hand. He had no idea what to do in this situation. Never had a hand been offered to him in that manner, a non-threatening, simply friendly sort of way. He began to feel warm as he tried to think of what to do.

Recalling seeing two businessmen grab each other's hands and move up and down, Naruto decided that this must be the same context, and enthusiastically reached out his hand to touch hers.

Unfortunately, it didn't feel quite right, and Kurenai must have noticed it too because she gave him a curious look. "I think you used the wrong hand." She gave him the tiniest of winks, which merely served to further his embarrassment as he realized his mistake.

Naruto reached out the correct hand, grasping her hands in a nervous manner. Apparently sensing that he had no idea what to do after that, Kurenai guided his hand in an up-to-down manner.

Their eyes met, and Naruto couldn't help but smile, face still a bit red. Kurenai smiled back, as Naruto's heart skipped. He may have been a beggar, and only age 12, but he was old, and mature enough, to realize that not everyone, certainly not every woman, was as attractive as this. Out of the corner of Naruto's eye, he noticed Kiba giving him furious glares, as no doubt the boy wanted to be the object of his sensei's attention.

The entire handshake was only a few seconds, but it felt like an hour to Naruto.

"I don't believe you've told me your name yet."

Naruto nearly slapped himself, as realization dawned that he was making a fool of himself.

"I'm so sorry, Kurenai-san. It's great to meet you, I'm Uzumaki Naruto."

It became deadly quiet. Kurenai seemed to quiver, while the rest of team 8 flinched. It was as if Naruto had just told a frightening story.

A pregnant silence followed. The woman's eyes had left his face, and now were staring intently at the Ichikaru sign. She bit her lip, clearly not trusting herself to speak.

"Your miso, sir!" A voice broke the unnatural quietness, as Naruto saw a bowl of noodles placed in front of him. But he had lost all appetite, even though he had not eaten for so long. There was simply no way he could have eaten a single bite.

Naruto placed double the necessary money on the table, as his eyes met those of Ayame's. Her joyful, carefree smile and bright eyes seemed to wilt, as she noticed the subtle, but very clearly pained look on the boy's face.

"I'm truly sorry… Ayame-san… I… have to go." He quickly left the stand, desiring to get out as fast as he could.

_"Well, at least she was nice to you for a bit…" _He thought to himself, as he entered the dark apartment. Sitting on a chair, he stared off into the darkness, somehow, feeling more empty inside than he had for his entire life. Whereas before, he had always had a goal in mind, and planned his thoughts around it – such as how to obtain his next meal. But now, with no clear goal in sight, Naruto wasn't sure if there was anything worth living for.

And so, after sitting in the darkness for hours, Naruto fell into the embraces of dreams.

A/N: Please review.


	5. Hope and Horror

Original Sin

Chapter 5: Hope and Horror

The next morning, Naruto woke up to perhaps the most delicious scent he could have ever smelled. The sunlight had brightened the room considerably, and the entire world seemed brighter.

Letting out a huge yawn, Naruto felt a sudden sprout of energy. His emptiness from the night before had been replaced by an aching hunger, of a stomach that had not eaten for an entire day. A small smile spread on his face- and then turned to a huge one when he found the source of the smell.

_"WOW!"_ Naruto sat before an incredible meal – sautéed rice rolls with seaweed, steaming hot mini-dumplings, scallion-fried eggs with toast, and a saucer of warm, sweet milk. Near the table stuck the note:

_Please don't let yourself starve, Naruto. –Sandaime_

For the first time in his recallable life, Naruto was able to eat a whole meal, one that he did not get sick from afterwards.

Looking out the window, he saw the eastern sky, the clearest of days, and his heart seemed to pound in his chest. The previous night's emptiness had been forgotten as Naruto felt an unstoppable… _what was this feeling… hope_… roaring within his soul.

"I'm going to become a ninja!" He shouted, smile so wide, his facial muscles started aching. "Oww…"

Naruto didn't know where he was going, but somehow, he felt an inner force guiding him, as if Kami-sama had somehow shown him the light. Walking around the village, feeling quite impervious to the villagers' glares, Naruto eventually ended up… in front of a hot springs.

Sighing, he began to turn the other way, until he heard a manic giggle. Naruto's head turned – the noise had come from a bush, which was quivering heavily.

"Hehe! Hehe! Hehe!" Giggled the oddest voice. Naruto could tell it wasn't a woman, but no normal man should have that kind of voice… unless…

"And then she kneeled down in order to better serve her master…" the "man" muttered under his breath.

Naruto couldn't take it anymore. This odd, foreign behavior, did not resonate with him, and so he went up to the shaking bush, mustered up all his energy, and punted the man forward.

"YAAAAAAAA!!" An old man screamed as he flew through the air. Naruto was horrified – he did not expect to kick an _old_ man, much less kick him so far!

_Splash. _Screams. "INTRUDER!!" "PERVERT!" "DISGUSTING BASTARD! UGH!!" Sounds of a dying man were heard as Naruto slowly realized what he had done.

In less than five seconds, the old man had been punted back from the hot springs, landing right back where Naruto had kicked him – in the bush.

"Please don't kick me!! Ahhh!! I mean no harm!!" The old man sobbed, hands covering his face as he cowered from Naruto.

"Umm… sorry… I didn't mean to kick you so far…" Naruto felt quite bad for the bruised man. After all, being a male himself, he could sympathize with being hurt in _that _area.

Then the old man looked up, and his pained look instantly changed to an angry one. "YOU!! How dare you kick Jiraiya-sama, the greatest of the legendary Sannin!" He made a quirky pose, sneering at Naruto's surprised expression.

"Umm…"

"Get out of my sight stupid boy before I send you to the afterlife! JIRAIYA-SAMA NEEDS HIS RESEARCH!!" The old man, apparently named Jiraiya, swept around to renew his glorious activity of woman-watching.

Naruto just stood there, not exactly sure what to do. To be honest, Naruto was confounded by Jiraiya – the old man wasn't even going to fight him after being kicked? Either he was singularly obsessed with women-watching, or he was completely confident that Naruto wouldn't kick him again.

Which he did.

"YAAAAAAA!!" Screeched Jiraiya as he flew through the air, back into the water.

His screech was overwhelmed by the renewed, and even louder, thunderous fury of enraged females, which combined with the pained screams of the old pervert and with the rhythm of the slapping and smacking, created a symphony of surreal vengeance and unmitigated passion.

_"This could be a good ringtone…"_ thought Naruto absentmindedly as he began to wonder where he would go to find ninja training.

"YOU LITTLE PIPSQUEAK!" Yelled Jiraiya loudly as he was booted back from the hotsprings, into the bush. He righted himself quickly, then thundered in front of Naruto, making all sorts of threatening noises.

"Are you a ninja?" Naruto interrupted abruptly, ending the old pervert's tirade.

"HOW DARE YOU ASK SUCH A STUPID QUESTION! I AM THE GREATEST NINJA IN THE WORLD!!" The old man made another absurd pose.

Naruto sighed. It was better than not asking. "So can you teach me to be a ninja?"

"Pshaw!! What makes you think that I, the legendary Jiraiya of the super-legendary Sannin, would want to teach YOU, a little midget with nothing better to do than to kick poor unsuspecting researchers into their subjects' vicious dens!"

Naruto had to admit, this old man was pretty funny.

The old man continued with his rant. "Do you REALY think that you can just wake up in the morning and say 'I want to be a ninja?' Pshawww!! Do you know how long it took, how hard you have to work, the dangers I've faced, the times I've been this close to death," he squeezed his fingers together, "AND YOU SAY THAT YOU WANT TO BE A NINJA?"

A brief silence followed. "So can you teach me?" Naruto asked again.

The old man appeared surprised by Naruto's unfazed expression, and his quirky postures and expressions suddenly became serious. This scared Naruto a bit, but he didn't say anything.

"Thousands of shinobi have asked me to be their sensei, boy. What makes you think that I should train you? What is your fighting style? Do you even know any ninjutsu, boy?"

Naruto shook his head.

The old man scoffed. "Then I have no interest in teaching you. If I took every little pipsqueak that came along, begging me to teach them, with their rich little mommies and daddies showering mounds of gold at my feet, I would be super-rich, yes, but super stressed as well. Spoiled brats like you, with no talent, no brains, are simply too troublesome."

Naruto didn't know what to say. The old man began to walk away.

"I don't have any parents." The old man stopped in his steps. "And I can show you a jutsu that I made." _"This is my only chance."_

Jiraiya didn't say anything, but merely looked at Naruto. He took it as his cue to begin, going through each of the same seals he had done the other day, hoping, praying, that his hand would not be split open like last time…

But hoping, praying, even more, that somehow, rain will fall.

It didn't.

"Idiot boy! Waste of my time!" Jiraiya sneered as he shouldered his knapsack and began to walk away once more. Naruto stared at his hands, his heart sinking. His mind raced through bitter thoughts – why was it that to be a ninja, you had to know ninjutsu, but you couldn't learn ninjutsu until you became a ninja? Why would anyone teach him?

Tears blurred his eyes as he sank to his knees. _"No… damnit… come on Naruto…" _

"Wait! Old man!" Naruto yelled. A sudden surge of will had seeped through him, as something told him, _"don't give up."_

"OLD MAN! JIRAIYA-SAMA!" Naruto yelled as he raced after the Sannin.

Jiraiya turned for the last time. "You have three seconds before I ignore you forever!" He thundered, sneering at Naruto's panting form.

Naruto put his hands together, willing all of himself, his entire life force, into this one jutsu, this one made-up, not-even-sure-if-existent jutsu, the one that only dreamers would ever attempt.

And then he finished. For one second, it seemed like his dream was over, all his efforts were for naught, as nothing had happened.

But then.

"AAHHH!" Naruto screamed in agony as a flash of lightning struck his hand, splitting open as blood splattered out. Tears of pain blurred his version as he barely noticed that the sky had darkened suddenly and ominously.

And then it began to rain.

A/N: Please review.


	6. Exploding Fruit

Original Sin

Chapter 6: Exploding Fruit

Naruto grumbled as he shuffled through the watermelon farm. The perverted old man surely had some absurd ways of teaching chakra control. Chakra… that's what he learned, was the energy that engulfed each ninja, able to be willed into different forms.

He jabbed at another watermelon. BOOM! "DAMNIT!" The watermelon exploded into Naruto's face, causing him to yell angrily in frustration. Jiraiya's exercise had been simple. Concentrate your chakra at a point small enough to make a direct hole through the watermelon, without it splitting or bursting. Normally, you'd think that this would be easy, considering the watermelon's tough skin.

But not for Naruto. After realizing what chakra did, everything Naruto touched simply exploded. So Jiraiya had eaten the grapes and popped the balloons, and made Naruto work on watermelons. They would try the grapes and the balloons after Naruto got better at controlling his chakra.

Still, Naruto couldn't help but smile contentedly to himself, as he recalled Jiraiya's shocked expression when the man realized that the boy had enough chakra to make the sky rain. He had immediately begun asking Naruto a furious amount of technical and analytical questions, none of which Naruto could answer, before sighing and making him start with the basics – chakra control.

After exploding a few more watermelons, Naruto sighed. It seemed like no matter how hard he tried, he simply couldn't get a small enough amount of chakra required to poke a hole within the watermelons!

"YOU! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH MY WATERMELONS??" An angry female voice shouted. Jiraiya, who was sitting against a tree writing fervently into his newest novel, jumped up and started yelling.

"NARUTO! GET OUT OF THERE! NOW!!" Naruto barely dodged three kunai that had flown straight at his head. _"Shit, this woman's aiming to kill!"_

Naruto ducked and rolled, running away as fast as he could. Fortunately for him, his years of running from pursuers had given him the instinct of dodging and whatnot. He ducked behind a tree as a barrage of shruiken slammed into it, hoping desperately that he had lost the woman.

He hadn't.

"YOU CAN'T RUN FROM ME STUPID BOY. WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE BLOWING UP PEOPLE'S WATERMELONS??" Yelled the angry woman as she advanced towards Naruto's location.

He gulped. This was not going to turn out well.

And he was right. Suddenly, _live snakes_ trapped him in place, as they hissed in front of his horrified face. He screamed. "AHH! BLOODY MURDER!! HELPPPP!!"

Jiraiya was no where near sight. _"Damn pervert… shit… this isn't good…" _thought Naruto as he sensed the woman walk in front of him. He winced as he felt himself pinned, and then looked up.

"Well, well, well… look what we have here."

Standing in front of him was a smirking lady with a skintight fishnet shirt and tiniest of shorts, capped with an absurdly long trench coat. Under normal circumstances, Naruto would have been enthralled by her obscenely displayed assets and curvature, but at the present moment, the only thought running through his head was _"crazy hot bitch who's going to kill me!"_

The woman licked her lips as she bent down to examine her victim. Naruto stared at her in fear. Was she going to kill him? Or worse… _eat _him? These sorts of thoughts appear at moments of horror.

"Please don't eat me… I've never ate much, you won't find much meat on me." Naruto pleaded desperately.

The woman grinned, apparently reveling at the amount of fear she was causing. "I'm not going to eat you, little boy." She murmured. Naruto was horrified. He had never seen such an evil smile before.

"I'm just going to… have a little taste…" She whispered. Naruto didn't even have time to react, as in a flash, his cheek had been cut, he had been shoved backwards with back against the ground, and the woman had crawled on top of him, licking the blood from his minor wound.

Naruto simply laid there, completely paralyzed with fear and horror, not able to move a single muscle. It was times like these where he wondered whether God or whoever created the universe had a perverse disposition for the plight of innocent human beings.

_"Well… not exactly innocent… you were blowing up her watermelons, after all…" _Naruto thought grimly.

The woman had stopped licking him, as she sat on him, smirking evilly. Naruto just stared, wide-eyed, fearfully looking into her hazel ones.

"You're delicious." Those were her only words, as she leaped up and shunshin'd out of sight.

Naruto laid there, severely creeped out. The snakes had gone, but Naruto felt incredibly violated and insecure. Minutes ago, he had been at the top of the world, having acquired a mentor and was finally on the path to becoming a ninja. Now he was reduced to a quivering bundle, white-faced and unable to speak.

_Giggle giggle._

Naruto's eyes narrowed as he registered the source of the sound.

"Hehe! Hehe!!" Naruto jumped up, livid, and dived into the bush nearby.

"AAAAAHHHHH!!" "YOU WERE HERE THE WHOLE TIME?!" Naruto thundered as he shook Jiraiya's shoulders, as the other man tried to push Naruto away.

"I – hehehe – must commend you – _giggle _– apprentice – hehe – you just gave me super material!" Jiraiya giggled madly he escaped the clutches of his furious student.

Naruto glared. "How so?"

Jiraiya took out his notepad and began reading. "The boy Oturan had no chance as the gorgeous woman tackled him and pinned him underneath her. She licked his wounds off as her hands removed thoroughly both of their clothes, while Oturan continued to scream 'bloody murder!' And then she began to ravage him..."

Jiraiya closed his notepad, his face displaying a shit-eating grin.

"Who the hell's Oturan?" Naruto asked, extremely disturbed that his sensei had basically turned what had just happened into a sex story.

"Why, you of course!" Jiraiya cackled. "Get it? Naruto – Oturan – Naruto – Oturan – bwahahahahaha!!"

Putting his hands to his face, Naruto simply groaned. He shouldn't have asked.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

The pair had given up on the watermelons, and had moved on to what Jiraiya called "egging." The activity itself was simply retarded, according to Naruto. The crazy old man had bought 20 boxes of eggs, or 240 eggs total. Then he told Naruto to start balancing them, and keep them that way for more than five seconds.

On blocks of ice.

There were simply so many things wrong with the exercise. First of all, the ice was melting. Second of all, they were outside, and there was wind blowing. Third of all, since Naruto tended to blow the eggs up rather than balance them, this task was quite impossible.

"YES!! FINALLY!!" Cheered Naruto after perhaps his fiftieth egg, in which he finally got the egg to balance on the block of ice for more than five seconds. His clothes were stained with disgusting raw egg yolk.

"Good!" said Jiraiya, looking up from his notebook. "Now balance _another _egg on top of that!"

"WHAT!!" Naruto yelled. Crazy old man. He gingerly took another egg, praying as he molded the chakra around the egg, nimbly placing it on top of the other egg.

For a second, it seemed as if he had succeeded. The egg had stayed on!

"YES!!" Naruto cheered.

Then both eggs imploded, squirting Naruto's face with yolk.

"DAMNIT!!"

175 eggs later, Naruto was tired as hell. The most he was able to get was four eggs on top of each other, but that had only lasted half a second. His entire body was soaked with egg yolk, which combined with the unnaturally strong wind, had transformed Naruto into a yolk-spitting machine, where small blobs of yolk would be picked off his body by the wind, traveling long distances and slapping unsuspecting pedestrians in the face.

"If you don't get 10 eggs on top of each other, we're repeating this tomorrow." Jiraiya stated absentmindedly, scribbling rapidly.

_"Easy for you to say…" _Naruto thought bitterly as yet another egg imploded.

"Jiraiya-sama!" An ANBU shinobi had appeared. "Hokage-sama requests your presence!"

Jiraiya groaned. "Damn, how'd he know I was back in town? Buying that blasted crystal ball for his 80th birthday was not a good idea…" he muttered under his breath.

"Stay here boy. I'll be right back." Jiraiya held out a hand before Naruto was able to protest. "I'm serious this time."

Naruto nodded, and went back to stacking eggs.

One egg down.

Then two.

Then three.

Naruto smiled. He was getting the hang of this.

Four eggs, then five, then six. Naruto shook a bit. Could he actually do it this time?

He placed the seventh one down, and held his breath. It stuck.

Then the eighth one. Amazed, Naruto took a brief pause. It was a masterwork, an artpiece, beautiful, balanced, eight-egg tower.

"Come on… just two more…" muttered Naruto under his breath.

The ninth one nearly fell off, as Naruto had to use the tiniest bit of chakra to stabilize it. He sighed, wiping his yolk-sweated brow, breathing heavily. Sometimes, using little chakra was even more tiring than using a ton of chakra. The concentration involved was simply exhausting.

_"One… more…" _Naruto's hand quivered, as he raised the last egg slowly onto the top of the tower…

Suddenly, the ground trembled. Naruto froze. He looked around cautiously. No one seemed to be around…

Naruto held his breath. His eyebrow twitched.

The ground shook a bit more.

And then some more.

And then more… and more… and more.

Naruto couldn't believe it. Of all the times that for a mini-earthquake to occur, this just _HAD _to be the moment! It was absurd, it was completely unfair!

_Shake shake._

_Rumble rumble._

_BOOOOOM!! _"I'M BAAACCCKKK!!" thundered Jiraiya as he landed into view, on top of a monstrously big toad. Naruto was blown over by the sheer force of the landing. "ARRRGGGGGGHHHH!!"

Naruto was simply flabbergasted. His sensei should have known that he was THIS close to succeeding in his task, and he ended up doing _THIS?!_

Then he saw the eggs. They were still there!! They were still balanced!!

Apparently, Jiraiya and his unnaturally large toad had noticed this too, because they fell silent, watching the eggs anxiously.

"Don't move." Naruto said softly, bringing his last egg onto the tower.

He had it placed on, now he just had to stabilize it with chakra…

_"Please… Kami-sama… let this succeed…" _he prayed as his hands slowly left the egg in place… now… he just needed to wait five seconds…

One…

Two…

Three…

Four…

_Scratch._

Four and a half was counted when all hell broke lose. The eggs quivered for a millisecond, and then exploded, all ten of them at once. The sheer force of the explosion caused a dynamic shift in matter, which caused the last remaining 25 eggs to explode as well. The chunk of ice had shattered into a flurry of shards.

Just then, a huge gust of wind blew through the explosion, sweeping the boxes, the eggs, the shells, the yolk, the chakra, the ice, the water, all of it, together, into one elephant-sized maelstrom, a miniature hurricane, sizzling and swirling with a thunderous roar.

"HOOOOOOOOOOOOLLYYYYYYYYY SHIIIIIIITTTTTTTTT!!" screamed Naruto as he was engulfed within the tornado, basically flung into the sky. "DID YOUR DAMN TOAD JUST HAVE TO SCRATCH ITSELF??" He roared as he flew through the air, chunks of basically everything flying around him.

"You ok Gam? Where are you itching? Need me to help you out?" Jiraiya was asking back at ground level. The gigantic toad shrugged.

Naruto was now out of the hurricane, rapidly accelerating towards the ground as his shouts of anger had quickly transformed into an anguished cry for help. _"Wow… is this it… is this the end?" _He thought, his body plummeting towards the ground at the maximum gravitational speed.

_"I guess this is it."_

He closed his eyes as he braced for the impact.

_Splash_.

Naruto had fallen into a deep well. Breathing a huge sigh of relief while swallowing a ton of water, Naruto silently prayed a word of thanks. He flayed his arms and legs wildly for a bit, and then finally surfaced.

Looking up, he saw Jiraiya peering down, with his arms crossed. "I was going to tell you, Naruto – the Sandaime wants you to participate in the Chuunin exams!"

_"Oh my god."_

A/N: Please review.


	7. Of Ninja and Narutos

Original Sin

**A/N: Sorry it took me this long to get this chapter out. I had a writer's block after the last chapter, but now I'm back, hopefully.**

Chapter 7: Of Ninjas and Narutos

Naruto stared. Jiraiya smirked, seeing his student's dumbfounded expression.

"The exam will be in six months. The Hokage thought it to be a worthwhile goal for you to train for, seeing as you are now under my mentorship to become a ninja. The only question is, Naruto, are you ready?"

Naruto felt a swirl of conflicting emotions. On one side, he was very worried, simply because he had heard that plenty of ninja had died in the exam, and with him having so little experience, there was practically no logical sense of Naruto being able to enter the exam. On the other hand, Naruto felt a deep, powerful stir within him. It was as if this was not just a dream, a fantasy, but an actual goal, that could be accomplished, if he worked hard enough…

And for the first time in his life, Naruto had the means to achieve this goal: enough food, water, and shelter, clothing on his back, and a crazy, perverted sensei, whose power Naruto did not understand, but sensed that it was much greater than the old man let on.

"I am ready, Jiraiya-sensei." Naruto said softly. But his words were powerful, determined, full of hope, dreams, inspiration, and all the worthy and admirable human qualities, were carried out through those soft words from a small figure.

Jiraiya glanced at his pupil, his eyes briefly concerned. He did not bother to tell Naruto that he had just conducted one of the most hostile, and acidic verbal spars with his old mentor in order to allow Naruto to be accepted into the exams. He did not bother to tell Naruto that the Sandaime had threatened Jiraiya to forcibly remove Naruto from the exam if the boy was not battle-ready by the end of six months. He did not bother to tell Naruto that should he fail, the legendary Sannin had promised himself, that he would never take another pupil again, after what had happened to his last one.

"Good. Then you are dismissed for the day." Within a millisecond, Jiraiya's serious demeanor transformed instantly into that of an immature, perverted old hermit. "Now now, where was I… oh yes… the gorgeous mermaid began to peel off her…"

Naruto was long gone, not caring to hear about the rest of the Jiraiya's amazing mermaid fantasy.

TTTTTTTTTT

For two months, Naruto trained his heart out as he began to learn the basics of being a ninja with incredible speed. Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, Kinjutsu, whatever jutsu Jiraiya could throw at him, Naruto would have it mastered within a few minutes, at most an hour.

In fact, Naruto was learning so quickly and so fast, that Jiraiya was getting worried that by the time Naruto reached 15, he would have no more jutsus to learn. Of course, he reminded himself, the ones his star pupil had learned had been basic, to intermediate at best. The advanced jutsus would surely take the insatiable blond boy longer to learn.

Part of Jiraiya liked to attribute Naruto's amazing learning speed to his own incredible teaching ability. After all, having trained the likes of the Yondaime, it was expected, in fact, assumed, that any ninja under his tutorship would far outpace the rest in learning. But the other part of Jiraiya knew that this was no ordinary ninja. Between Naruto's genetics, his "container" stature, and his unexpectedly sharp stealth mindset (as a result of surviving in the wilderness that was Konohagakure for 12 years), he had one more trump card that propelled him:

His indomitable will, stirred through all the years of oppression and alienation, that he would do anything and stop at nothing, to prove himself to the world.

That will alone, was enough to drive Naruto past most of the common pitfalls and obstacles most young ninja go through when training. He did not rest after learning one technique, but rather immediately went through to another. He did not take breaks until Jiraiya forced him, dragging him by his jumpsuit to the ramen bar. And finally, Naruto simply did not give up. Whereas some ninja would say to themselves, 'I just made pretty good progress on this jutsu, I'll just leave it at that and finish it tomorrow," Naruto did not wait. He simply finished the remainder, and moved on.

Naruto smiled as he finished learning his most recent jutsu, the water bullet technique. With it, he could transform liquid water into literally foot-long deadly needles, and strike through an unsuspecting enemy's heart. While the water did not stay in its needle form, the damage would be done: a gaping hole, squirting blood, and a torturous scream to a painful death.

"What's next, sensei?" Naruto asked, turning around to look for his sensei. _"Ah great, not again…" _His eyes narrowing, he quickly formed a seal, and shot a very weak, but HUGE water bullet at the forehead of Jiraiya's sleeping figure.

"Oh yesss…. Kiss mee--- AAAAAAHHHH!!!!" Jiraiya screamed as he was abruptly awoken from his wet dream by, basically a bucket of ice-cold water. "You stupid boy! I was just getting to the good part"

He glanced at the sky, and at the ground, which was littered with leaves, burnt flowers, and exploded fruit. The two had had a productive day, with Naruto learning close to 15 new jutsus, most of the water and fire kind.

"It's getting late Naruto, why don't we call it a day." The sun was setting. And Jiraiya frankly did not feel like doing anything besides going back home and taking a nap.

Naruto grinned. "You're getting old, ero-sennin," he still liked to call his sensei that at times, simply because of the pissed off expression that would sprout on the Sannin's face every time. "I could stay here and train all the way to mid-"

Naruto stopped mid-word, as a freezing wave of pure anxiety washed over him. It was a chill, a deep chill, as if something in his body was not quite right, as if something dark, and from the depths, had awakened…

Jiraiya was still nursing his 'hurt and angry' expression, when he noticed Naruto's sudden paleness. The veteran Sannin did a quick seal check to see if any threat was present, or if any genjutsu was attacking, but found nothing.

They were in a relatively open training ground, with few trees nearby. There wasn't a single other living thing in sight… so then, why was his pupil, staring, ashen-faced, dazed, as if something had suddenly possessed him?

"_Holy…. Shit…_" thought Naruto as his mind went blank. Although he was still conscious, he could not think. None of his limbs could move at all, and nothing could process through his mind. It was as if he were a spectator in his own body.

Jiraiya was getting tremendously worried. He tried to shake Naruto a bit, but Naruto did not even react. The sannin did a few quick tests on Naruto, but nothing showed, no poison, no genjutsu, no sort of detectable malice of any kind…

_Unless…_

Naruto's mind then snapped, and went pitch black.

And out of the darkness, emerged simply the most malicious, monstrous, and terrifying evil he had ever seen.

"_**Hello."**_


	8. Demonic Embrace

Original Sin

A/N: I updated this one pretty quickly, mainly to make up for the long break =) P.S., PLEASE review, I read every one. Thanks =)

Chapter 8: Demonic Embrace

"_**Hello."**_

It was the terrifying face of the nine-tails, magnified so that it filled the entirety of Naruto's inward brain image. The simple encounter was enough to make one faint, but to Naruto's credit, he did not faint, because he couldn't.

"_What… what are you doing?" _Naruto asked his prisoner. This was the first time, ever, that he had encountered the demon within.

The fox head grew an unimaginably evil smile. **"I am the cause of all your nightmares, all of your bad dreams, all of your fears, your phobias, and your worries… I am, what they call, a haunt." **

Naruto shivered. So this was the power of the nine-tailed fox, even while jailed and sealed, it possessed the ability to insert itself into Naruto's mind, and utterly terrify him.

But he could not help but think… the fox did sound a bit over the top with its little "cause of all your nightmares" speech. In fact, Naruto began to wonder if the demon kitsune had lost some of its cunning. After all, words could easily be wielded as weapons, but the choice of words the demon used were… mediocre at best, in inciting true fear.

A laugh was heard, inside his head, echoing through the walls of his mind. The fox emerged again, this time, even more terrifying, with its fangs dripping crimson blood, slanted eyes as evil as the devil himself.

"**I have let you live all these years, in relative peace…" **Despite his fear, Naruto nearly snorted. Peace? What did the Kyuubi know about peace?

"**Insolent little brat. I could have taken over your mind far long ago, and transform you into something far baser, evil, and malicious than you could ever imagine."**

Naruto looked at the fox, within his mind. _"Even more evil than you?"_

"**Yes." **

Naruto did not say anything, or rather think anything. He did not dare.

"**Although I could easily dispatch you right now, and turn you into a machine of my power, I'm not going to. You're going through some nice changes, and so I wanted to offer you my help."**

The young boy goggled. The nine-tailed fox, offering him its help? This was unheard of.

"**I can make you far more powerful than you could possibly imagine. The chakra that you have *ahem* stolen from me, is but a token amount of the raw power that I can give you. However, in return, there is something I desire from you."**

Briefly wondering about exactly what kind of power the Kyuubi was talking about, Naruto responded quickly.

"_If it's freedom you're looking for, I'm not gonna fall for it." _

The demon let out a haunting laugh. **"It is true that I desire freedom… the ability to once again unleash the full righteous fury of my wrath against lesser beings… and it would be so easy, so pitifully, pathetically easy it would be, to possess your mind, and peel off that weak little seal that binds me to your soul…"**

Naruto gulped. Was it really that easy for the Kyuubi to escape? That simple seal was all that was there?

"**However, I have decided that you have not been a poor host, and so, I won't subject you to my wrath. All I want from you, is a little piece of your chakra."**

Naruto was immediately suspicious about what the fox was trying to pull here. _"Why? For what? Can't you just take it yourself?"_ Naruto asked.

"**Foolish mortal. Enough with the questions. Give me the chakra before I rip off this seal and demolish you from within."**

The budding blond boy began to feel like he was treading on extremely thin ice. On one level, he felt that this was totally, completely wrong, and he would probably regret this for the rest of his life, but on the other hand, he knew that if he did not acquiesce to the fox's demands, his life would cease as he knew it…

And so, he fed a small channel of his pure, blue chakra, into the fox. How he was able to do that, Naruto did not understand, but he simply _knew _that it had worked.

"**Good… very good…"**

With the most sinking feeling that he had somehow sold his soul to the devil, Naruto's mind reverted to the real world.

TTTTTTT

"AAAAHHHHH!!!!" A big Jiraiya-face was leering over Naruto's at an extremely close distance, as the poor boy nearly wet his pants. Naruto did the only thing he could think of at the moment, which was to give the perverted hermit a huge kick in the groin area.

It was Jiraiya's turn to scream as he cupped his wounded body area and began to curse madly. "YOU IDIOT BOY, WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT FOR??!!!"

The toad hermit had been getting ready to hoist the lifeless Naruto onto his shoulders, and carry him back to the village for treatment. After all, it was dark, and the boy had not seemed like he was going to wake up anytime soon.

Naruto couldn't help but laugh at his mentor's plight. "Ero-sennin, it's not like you're ever going to have kids anyway."

Jiraiya glared. He was just about to retort snidely, when a loud bang and an enormous cloud of smoke blinded him.

"JIRAIYA!!! WHAT THE HELL??!!!" Naruto coughed, nearly choking on the dust.

The urgency in his mentor's voice was not to be missed. "Naruto, get the hell out of here, now!!"

"Too late." A female voice rang out, before Naruto felt his world darken.


	9. Flight of the Fox

Original Sin

Chapter 9: Flight of the Fox

_Naruto walked along the edge of the sea. The waves crashed into his feet like little midgets attempting to tackle him, the breeze lightly gracing his face._

_As he walked, he began to grow physically. One centimeter, two centimeter, until he was nearly six feet tall. He felt his body fill out, his voice deepen, and his whiskers slowly disappear…_

_In the distance, a woman sat in the sand, staring far out into the open ocean. Naruto approached her steadily, wondering who this woman was. As he neared, he began to wonder questions such as how he could ask her out on a date, or maybe even ask her to marry him._

_The woman looked up as Naruto approached, and their eyes locked. The woman was Kurenai, in all of her glory, wearing but a simple white dress. She smiled while standing, opening up her arms. The two embraced, beautifully, romantically, as the sun set in the distance._

_Naruto turned to look at her. "I love you."_

_The Jounin kunoichi stared back at him. She did not speak for a minute._

_Then she smiled._

"_You naughty little brat, do you really think that someone as mature and sophisticated as Kurenai would ever sleep with you?" _

_Naruto could not believe the words coming out of her mouth. He was horrified. "But… Kurenai-san… I'm older now… I can take care of you…"_

_Kurenai laughed harshly. "Is that what you think? I disagree. I think you'd be much more suited to a woman more… primal. One who could drive you wild in bed, who'd be willing to try anything, someone who could fulfill your darkest fantasies… someone like…"_

"Me."

Naruto's eyes snapped open, just in time to stare right into crimson red eyes. _"Kurenai?!" _ Naruto thought, as his brain attempted to regroup back from the dream into the real world.

Then he realized, that the eyes were not Kurenai's. They were way too harsh, too red, and the pupils way too narrow to be a normal human being's…

Before he could think anymore, his lips were attacked ferociously by the woman who had him pinned to a tree trunk. _"Kami-sama, her lips are soft…" _ were Naruto's only thoughts as he began kissing back with a slight trepidation, as he had never kissed anyone before.

Her tongue lashed out against his teeth, prying them open, exploring the depths of his mouth. Instinctively, he reached an arm around the woman and pulled her closer, his brain unable to think any sort of distinct thought. His hormones had completely taken over.

The woman paused their furious liplock. "My my, looks like you mortals aren't so bad after all." She murmured, before again capturing his lips with hers. Her full bosom pressed against his chest, so forcefully, that if he breathed out of his chest, he would suffocate for sure…

Naruto was just about to tighten his grip around the woman when his mind came to its senses. Mortals? Who the hell uses the word mortals? Who was this woman?!

All of a sudden, the pieces fit together. The seemingly innocent request by the demon fox earlier suddenly made sense. The fox had used his willingly given chakra to mold this evil woman to torture him!

"AAAGGGGGHHHH!!!!" Roared Naruto as he pushed the woman off him, with such speed that she nearly slammed into the tree behind her, with just barely enough time to place a foot on the trunk, stabilize herself, and flip back onto the ground with grace.

After the dust cleared, Naruto and the woman glared at each other. There was a tense moment, one that could be cut with a knife, before Naruto's big yapper opened.

"Who the hell are you? Are you one of the damned demon fox's creations?" He demanded angrily, his hands about to execute his most powerful jutsu, a Raikiri Lightning attack.

The woman smirked. "You might want to stop your little attack, foolish mortal. And no, I am not a 'creation,' so to speak."

Naruto gulped. This woman, while drop-dead dazzling, also radiated an obscene amount of power. So obscene, in fact, that the air around her began to combust into tiny balls of flame.

"Then what are you?" His hands went to his mouth in horror. "It wasn't Kurenai-sensei's voice in the dream! IT WAS YOURS! How did you get into my dream??!!!"

The woman flicked a strand of silky red hair from her face. For the first time, Naruto noticed her attire: a long, long crimson dress, that went all the way to the ground. The dress was decorated with enormous amounts of diamonds and precious gems, and literally glittering with golden pearls. The dress must have been well worth over hundreds of millions of ryo…

"Because, little boy, I am _part _of you… I breath the same air you do, touch the same objects you do, and feel the same feelings and thoughts that have graced your pathetic low-life mind so many times. In other words, _host_, I am you."

Naruto's brain boggled. This wasn't just a creation… but rather, what was standing in front of him, was the living, human form of the most powerful being to grace the earth for the past century… Kyuubi, the nine-tailed fox.

**TTT**TTTTTTT

"Owww…" Naruto winced as he felt the wound on his shoulder. Panting heavily, he struggled to get back up, but was able to do so, albeit wobbling a bit.

Looking up, he glared into the face of his tormentor. The Kyuubi smiled devilishly at him. "You ready for another round, Naruto-_kun_?" She mocked, twirling her hair.

After Naruto had realized that his prisoner had somehow entered the physical realm with his chakra, things had quickly degenerated. Naruto had quickly engaged into a shouting match with the woman, who basically simply laughed at his idiocy. Then, the two began fighting, with Naruto using basically every trick up his sleeve, ninjutsu, kinjutsu, whatever it was, but after nearly two hours, he still had not laid a finger on the Kyuubi.

"Damnit you stupid fox!!!" Naruto shouted angrily. "Why don't you just kill me already?!!"

The Kyuubi snickered. "Awww pwetty little boy getting a leetle tired?"

In a flash, she rammed him against the tree, pressing up against him. He could feel her breath, it felt much hotter than one's average breath…

Her expression then turned serious. "I want very much to kill you, Naruto-kun…" Her voice then dropped to a mere whisper. "But I can't. If you die, I die as well. Could I simply tear the seal apart, and emerge as my true form? Certainly. But for reasons that I'm not going to bother to tell you, I chose to become human instead."

Naruto did not say anything for a minute. Finally, he said softly, "that's… good?"

The Kyuubi laughed. Naruto thought her laugh was possibly the most beautiful yet evil sounding laugh in the entire world.

Then she kissed him again, harshly. As her tongue dueled with his, her hands calmly moved over his wounded shoulder. A spike of red chakra filled out, and in seconds, completely healed the wound.

"One last thing. I'm going to live in your world." Naruto opened his mouth in protest, but a simple look from her eyes made him stop. "And so, no one can ever know about me. If they ever find out… I will _annihilate _every single last one of your friends, your senseis, and the rest of the village, while you stay alive. To some, I think that is worse than death. Wouldn't you agree, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto could only nod, his face white.

"Good. Oh, right. From now on, call me Kitsune."

And with a gust of wind, she disappeared.

All Naruto could think, was what the hell had he gotten himself into, as he hobbled tiredly over to wake up Jiraiya's still fainted body.


End file.
